Thursday, July 11, 2013

TOOB: Top Toob Protector & Innertube Keychain

Hi all! Today we will make a review of two products made by Roy Sherizly from Tel Aviv, he is the owner and spirit of TOOB.

First of all we want to tell you something about the story of this new brand of products made by old innertubes, giving them a new live, more cool, and more useful. Here is hisstory told by the Roy:

As a graphic designer and a fixed gear rider, my love for
the two got me thinking... so one day I came up with the idea to try and
recycle old innertubes. I started by collecting old innertubes from
local bike shops in Tel Aviv and playing around with them (none of the
tubes are new). All it takes is one little puncture, and they usually
get thrown in the trash - but once you get them nice and clean, it's a
great material to work with. Instead of throwing
the worn or punctured innertubes away, each one is inspected, cleaned,
washed, hand-cut
and buttoned - giving them a new purpose to serve and few more miles to
travel.

At first, I played around and made a keychain just for
myself, but quickly realized that other riders might enjoy the idea as
well. The first prototype I created had a rivet/button that doesn't
open, and served as a regular keychain (key end). I liked how it made
finding my keys from the bottom of my bag much easier, and it was a
material from the cycling world.

For the next design, I wanted a solution that would allow the
keychain to open and close, so that it could be attached to a belt or
bag. That's how the "open/close" keychain came to be.

After the keychains, I felt like making something different - something
for the bike rather than the rider. My own bike is a Japanese NJS track
bicycle from the Keirin circuit, so I know that lots of riders use the
expensive Kashimax top tube protector to keep the handlebars from
denting the toptube. My new goal was to create a cheaper alternative for
the Kashimax that looks good and also works good. I tried many
different designs and finally got one that I liked, and that's how the
Top TOOB Protector was born.

TOOB products are created from 700/23c innertubes, and all of
the items are hand-made by me. I try to use locally sources buttons and
rings, and all of the innertubes are used and saved from the trash.

As Roy has said in his story, the Top TOOB Protector is a really easy to use product that helps you to protect the upper bar of your frame of your handlebar bits... we have tested it in our Pinky Fixie, and it works perfectly as you can see in the photos. You only need to open the Top TOOB Protector, adjust it in the part of your frame where the handlebar bumps, and close it to fit, and...that's all! Your frame are now protected!

We have discovered it could help you when you park your bike on the street.

Another interesting product, is the innertube keychain made with old innertubes, it's very comfortablebecause itallows you toopen and close, so you can carry yourkeyshookedto anything:pantsbuckles, backpacks, bicyclehandlebar....as you can see in the photos, it can give you a "fixed gear look"...

Conclusion

Two products are really easy to use, you help your environment recycling old innertubes and giving you a new and cool fixed gear style...for that, we want to recommend this products and this brand TOOB, Roy...you are doing a great job! Congratulations!